Brendan Rodgers has publicly addressed the continued hypothesis surrounding Celtic midfielder Matt O’Riley amid rumours of curiosity from Liverpool.
The Reds have reportedly been stored knowledgeable of the 23-year-old’s state of affairs in Glasgow (Rudy Galetti), and the Scottish champions have already rejected two gives from Atalanta for the Denmark worldwide (Sky Sports activities).
The previous LFC boss was talking in regards to the participant’s future through the Bhoys’ pre-season tour of USA, and whereas he did his greatest to downplay the hypothesis, he admitted that the membership can discover it difficult to retain their prized property as a result of superior monetary packages on provide elsewhere.
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Rodgers mentioned of O’Riley (by way of Liverpool Echo): “We’re all fairly relaxed about it. Each participant has a worth however we see him as a extremely vital participant, and whereas he’s right here, we’ll proceed to develop him and enhance. There’s no replace. We’re pretty relaxed; you noticed him within the sport the opposite night time.
“He’s working so properly, however there’s nothing to report on him. I feel all of us perceive the folks near Celtic perceive the mannequin Celtic works.
“Matt’s been on the membership for 3 years; he’s developed into the participant he has and he is aware of the privilege it’s to play for Celtic, and naturally, naturally the way it works is the participant will get that chance to maneuver on.
“Celtic is a membership the place you’ll be able to transfer on however you don’t need to, and it’s a really tough membership to maneuver on from. However naturally, with the wages which might be on provide for gamers, then that makes it an actual problem for Celtic to compete at that degree.”
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Among the many gives for O’Riley that Celtic have already rejected this 12 months are £14.7m plus add-ons from Atalanta and £20m from Atletico Madrid (Sky Sports activities), which gives some indication as to what Liverpool would wish to pay for him in the event that they’re to prise him from Parkhead.
In line with Wage Sport, the 23-year-old is incomes £14,000 per week in Glasgow. The Reds ought to be comfortably in a position to provide him a considerable enhance on that quantity with out working the chance of breaking their current wage construction (Capology).
The Denmark worldwide can play as a defensive midfielder, thus probably ticking off one in all LFC’s three precedence positions in the summertime switch window, though he’s extra usually present in a central or attacking midfield position (Transfermarkt).
O’Riley is sort of prolific for somebody who usually doesn’t play within the ahead line, racking up a really spectacular tally of 19 targets and 18 assists for Celtic in all competitions final season (Transfermarkt).
Whereas such returns mightn’t come as simply within the Premier League, it nonetheless means that he may chip in with a good-looking G/A contribution if he had been to hitch Liverpool within the subsequent few weeks.
Rodgers’ feedback point out that the Bhoys are understandably keen to maintain him, however there’s been an acknowledgement {that a} profitable provide could also be tough to show down. It’s now a query of how far Richard Hughes is prepared to go so as to land the 23-year-old.
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